Come To Me
by His Black Rider
Summary: REDOING of ORIGINAL: Captain Isabella Wright of the U.S.M.C. doesn't like to take things easy & never shies away from a challenge. But when she catches the unwanted attention of Cobra Forces, she soon finds herself in a predicament unlike anything she's ever known-where more than just her life can be lost on the front-lines..especially after meeting a certain black-clad ninja. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue  


Pacing heavily across the Laboratory's polished floor, a neatly dressed man scowled with a growing discontentment."If our Intel was correct...we may need to speed up the progress, Doctor." With his words, he carried a distinctively thick Scottish accent.

"To do that, James..." A low, chilling voice answered from across the room, "...it would require an excessive amount of research." A figure that was clad in black from head to toe casually glanced down at the charts he held in a gloved hand. "And at the moment, we do not possess the proper foothold that would allow us to successfully infiltrate..."

"I don't want excuses, Doctor...I want results!" James McCullen argued impatiently.

"Very well..." The Doctor answered calmly, "...but to do so, we may need to recruit a new face to the Cobra's forces."

"And who is this new recruit? Is he anyone I may know?"

"It's a s _he _ James..." The Doctor corrected, "I'm talking about a particular girl."

"A girl?" The Scottish man scoffed, "Please elaborate." James McCullen softly demanded.

The Doctor turned from the large window he had been staring out of to face McCullen; long black hair hung down his neck, a breathing mask covered most of his face leaving only his dark eyes visible. Moving his clipboard of charts aside, in his black gloved hands, he held a simple green folder which he then gently flashed at McCullen.

"I've been keeping tabs on her for about a year now; I believe she's just what we need." He explained.

"Who is she?" James McCullen asked while crossing his arms over his chest as he eyed the file in the Doctor's hands.

"Isabella Wright."The Doctor answered, "...the only child of General Wright of the U.S.M.C."

"A military brat?" James shrugged his shoulders, "What's so special about her?" he asked.

At once, the Doctor's eyes lit up, "What isn't?" he returned before he opened the file and started reading off its contents, "Recently promoted to Captain in the Marine Corps, she holds a Masters in the Military Sciences, was one of the youngest officers to be selected to study at the National War College..." The Doctor paused for a quick second to chuckle, "….and she's only 23."

James' eyebrows rose up at the information, "Talented little vixen then, huh?" he asked.

Again The Doctor chuckled, "The General's daughter is a very promising spirit, I assure you." He stated as he slowly crossed the floor and approached the man called James McCullen.

"And what use could she be to us?"The Scottish man further inquired.

"Miss Wright works and has access to some of the more top secret files in the U.S. With the information she contains, the things we could acquire is endless!" The Doctor explained with excitement in his eyes. Then he reached back into the file for a quick second and pulled out a small picture which he extended out for McCullen to appraise, "Would she not be a lovely addition to our forces, James?"

McCullen cocked an eyebrow before he took up the photo in his own hands and studied the face within it. After a long minute, he gave a soft nod of approval before he handed the picture back to The Doctor who slipped it back into its file, "A pretty face I suppose." He admitted. "Not as lovely as the Baroness' but...she'll do."

The Doctor gave a slight incline of his head. "Indeed. So do we have an accord?" he asked.

McCullen pondered the question for a few seconds before he nodded again."Do whatever it takes, Doctor. And keep me informed of the progress...we must have it."

"Of course." Taking that as approval, the Doctor turned back around and began moving away, heading towards a long, worktable covered with bigger charts and stacks of paper. "If things go as planned, she will be joining us by the end of the month." he informed before setting himself to work on all the files and paperwork along his workstation.

Appeased for the time being, James McCullen in return pivoted on his heel and exited the Laboratory without another word, leaving the scheming Doctor to his thoughts and arrangements.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter one

Lost in the music that was playing, a young woman disregarded the sweat that continuously trickled down the side of her face as she kept up her fast pace on the treadmill. Dressed in some simple black shorts and a pink sports bra, Isabella ran in content as she blasted her IPod in her ear while a long, strawberry blonde ponytail bounced along behind her head.

Humming along with the chorus of a song in an attempt to keep her breathing even and regular, Isabella broke free of the music's spell to glance down at the treadmill's monitor. Her eyes quickly read that she had completed running her 3 miles for the day and so she pressed the large 'cool down' button in its center which immediately slowed the machine's pace down to an easy walk.  
When the allotted two-minutes of cool-down were finished, she turned the treadmill off completely and hopped off the piece of machinery.

"Three-miles...24 minutes..." she gave a sigh of satisfaction, "A good day." Isabella spoke aloud before bending down to scoop up her water bottle from its place on the floor. It took her but a second to pop the cap off before putting the mouthpiece to her lips. Then as she took a few, deep swigs of the ice cold water, the young woman retrieved a small, pink hand towel from her gym bag and wiped the remaining sweat off her face and neck.

As she straightened up a moment later, she did a quick perimeter check of the gym with her eyes and proceeded with turning her music down and removing one of the earphones out from her ear. It was an old habit that her father had drilled into her cranium years ago-whether she was in a private gym by herself, or out in the field with the troops, a soldier should always be aware of her surroundings and keep any distractions to an almost nonexistent level.

But when the classic upbeat song of 'Uptown Girl' came on came on her IPod a moment later, Isabella found herself beginning to smile as she started nodding her head along to its beat while her hips started swinging to the Billy Joel music.

Indeed, though her rigorous military training throughout the last six years of her life had taught her to never be surprised at anything, she almost couldn't help but jump when her ears picked up a low, rumbling laughter coming from across the gym. Instantly and defensively, she spun about and caught sight of a tall, well built man who looked to be in his late 50's leaning up against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Decent reaction time...but what on earth are you doing, Bella?" the man asked with amusement; his brown eyes twinkled with his laughter.

Isabella immediately relaxed while grinning sheepishly at her father, "Training." She answered casually with a soft shrug of her shoulders as she swiftly turned her IPod off.

Her father cocked an amused eyebrow at her before he stepped into the gym and walked over to where she stood.

"Training?" he repeated, "I was unaware that shaking your fanny like so was considered training in the Marine Corps." He stated as he mockingly started to mimic his daughter's little jig.

Isabella openly laughed. Her father looked like he was trying to hoo-la-hoop. But poorly so.

Playfully, she gave him a light smack on his arm, "Dad, stop it. What would your staff say if they saw you doing THAT?" she pointed out.

General Wright stopped his little imitation before he smirked down on his only child, "Eh good point." He agreed. "Are you all finished up in here?"

"Yeah, I'm good for the day." she replied as she reached down and collected her gym bag off the floor.

"Good." He declared before he draped an arm around his daughter's bar shoulders and steered her towards the gym's exit. "It's getting late after all. So…."her father began, quickly changing topics, "…the Officer's Ball is coming up this weekend. I would expect that you will be attending?" he inquired curiously.

Isabella took a moment to think about the question. "Oh, that's right..." she murmured, "..it is." she finished before giving a soft shrug. "I suppose I was planning on it. Is there another dorky theme this year?" she returned. "Hollywood Glamour, perhaps?"she teased, "Starry Night? The Secret Garden?"

"Masquerade." Her father answered casually.

"Ooh…they're being bold this year." She joked lightly while she gave a soft nudge of her elbow into her father's side..

General Wright chuckled while fixing her with a warm but stern look. "Oh, come now Bella...you know how hard all the Lieutenants have worked to put this party together year after year. It keeps morale up among the troops."

Reaching into her gym bag, Isabella pulled out a black sweatshirt and quickly slipped it over her head. "Be that as it may...If some of those butter-bars spent more time in their books and maxing their field qualifications and less time planning parties...they would probably find that their advancement in rank would be nearly cut in half."

"My daughter...Just because you've been advancing fast among the ranks doesn't mean others can follow in the same stride. You came into the Corps with very...unique circumstances."

"It's not entirely what I would call unique...there's plenty of folks who finished high school by the time they were seventeen..." the young woman argued calmly.

"What about becoming a college graduate by the time they were 21?"

Isabella reached a cool hand up and began tugging her ponytail loose. "If one has the drive to juggle 22 credits per term including summer classes..."

"Don't forget while being accepted into Officer Candidate School." General Wright added with good spirit.

"Well...the Corps has been in my blood since infancy." Isabella replied, waving the comment off. "I knew it was what I wanted to do ever since I learned how to walk. It's been my life's work."

"And there's nothing wrong with that. But honey...not everyone has that kind of spirit." General Wright carried on, "You are a special breed among soldiers. You made it clear to our superiors from the get-go that you weren't going to settle with living in my shadow... and I know I cast a pretty big one around here...

"35 years of devoted service would do that..." the young woman pointed out quietly.

"36 actually." Her father corrected with a small, proud smile. "But just so, my point is you have this fervent drive behind everything that you do . It's one of your best qualities."

A smile slowly graced Isabella's face. "Think so?" Without another word, she linked arms with her father as they continued making their way out of the gym. "It helped you know..growing up with a dad who casted, as you said, such an incredible shadow all throughout my life...it just made it that easier to chase and try and catch up to."

Briefly forgetting professionalism, General Wright leaned down and planted a quick kiss on the top of Isabella's head. "Won't be much longer till you start showing me up around here, huh?"

The young woman glanced up with a smile. "I guess you'll just have to find out."

Her dad couldn't help but chuckle in agreement. "Indeed." he answered. " So, getting back on track...the Officer's Ball...you will be there won't you?"

Isabella subtly rolled her eyes at the persisted question before nodding her head, "Yeah, why not?" she replied with a lazy air, "...They're interesting enough to be a part of, I suppose."

"Wonderful." Her father replied with a swift nod of his own head, clearly satisfied with her answer. "A little fun will do you some good. Sometimes I think you work too much."

Smartly raising her chin, Isabella turned her head and looked forward. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Making their way out of the gym, the pair headed up to the General's office. Once inside, Isabella went and fetched a much larger duffel bag lying neatly on the ground against the side of a wall. Taking hold of the strap, she slung it over the same shoulder as her gym bag. "Ready to close up shop?"

"Yeah, give me just a minute, Bella. I need to grab a few things first." Her father stated as he marched with a smooth stride over to his work desk and rummaged around on its flat, polished surface. Then, taking up a thick but carefully stacked pile of flies, he swiftly tucked them underneath his arm in a secured fashion before returning to Isabella's side. "Alright.. let's move out." His manner may have sounded serious-but there was no mistaking the obvious joking gleam that twinkled with his brown eyes.

Isabella shook her head but smiled at her dad's use of the military term before leading the way out of the large office. General Wright stopped only for a quick second to turn, close and lock up his room. Once that task was done, the two Wrights then left their work building and were soon outside making their way across the parking lot where their cars were parked up front.

It was well into the evening now-the air was cool and the sky was growing dark with each passing minute.

When the Wrights stopped between two cars, a neatly, polished black truck and a dark blue mustang, they simultaneously pulled out their keys unlocked their separate vehicles. While Isabella took a second to toss her bags into the back of her car, her father also placed his own personal effects away in the passenger's seat.

"So..." she called back over her shoulder, "What's the plan for tomorrow, sir?" she asked, half teasing, half serious.

"Well I've got a meeting at the Pentagon at 0900 hours and while I'm away, Captain... I need you to file some paperwork that I had dropped off at your desk. A few reports will need to be written and you'll find all the documentation you'll need on the share-drive of your computer." her dad answered as he got his things situated in the front seat.

Isabella's nose lightly scrunched with displeasure at the news. "Oh fun, fun...I love pushing paperwork..." she grumbled softly. "Anything else? And when I say anything...I seriously mean anything?"

General Wright curtly laughed. "Not satisfied with that tasking?"

The young woman pushed her car door closed before she turned and fixed her father with a stern look, "You know I'd have it finished before the noon briefing with General Speice."

"Well what's wrong with having a little down time?" Her father glanced back over his shoulder at her. But the look on he got in return was less than enthusiastic. "Oh alright...I suppose I can offer you something with a bit more of a challenge to occupy your time...your security clearance is update right?"

"Of course."

"Good." General Wright's head disappeared back into his truck. And when he emerged a minute later, he was carrying something in his arms. "In that case...here." Walking over to his daughter's car, General Wright pushed the stack of files he had carried out of his office right into Isabella's arms.

"What?" there was mild outrage in her tone as she automatically scrambled to gather the folders close to prevent anything from falling. "Are you kidding me, dad?"

General Wright flashed a smile and stepped away with his hands up in the air. "Hey you wanted a challenge."

"Yeah but I didn't mean more paperwork." Isabella protested firmly. "I mean what I am supposed to do with these?"

"Read them. Do some research. But be sure to take extra care with the bottom three folders."

"Why?" Isabella shifted the stack of files to one arm and with careful hands, pulled the bottom three folders out with her spare hand. Even in the darkened parking lot, she was able to make out the red coloring along with the word 'TOP SECRET.' "Oh..."

"What you have in your hand are the blueprints to some new, highly developed weapons of war." Her father explained, "Now what I need you to do is to carefully go through each file, study what is there..and then take notes on all the things you notice about them, good or bad. Afterwards, prepare a separate report on each one which you'll then deliver to me in the next 48 hours. You're known for your fair and professional observations... which why I'm able to entrust you with this."

Isabella huffed a quick sigh, "Alright...but out of curiosity, have you had the chance to go through these files yet yourself, dad?"

"I have not. But I've heard whispers about some of the possible content. There seems to be a lot of mixed feelings about them over at the Pentagon...So be as thorough as you can when making your reports."

Slipping the red folders back to their original spot at the bottom of the stack, Isabella hugged the files close to her chest and nodded her head in understanding, "Understood." She answered compliantly. "Not what I had in mind...but it will be done."

General Wright smiled, "That's my girl." He said with approval. "Now get on out of here and get some sleep tonight. You'll find yourself quite occupied for the next 48 hours." Walking over, he then gave his only daughter a parting embrace which she gladly returned.

"Very Well...Good night, dad." Isabella replied, "... give mom my love!." She added.

"Goodnight sweetheart and I will." General Wright replied before pulling away. The two then turned from each other and parted ways by climbing into their own cars. After a couple minutes, both father and daughter were driving off in opposite directions.

It was about a 20 minute commute to her townhouse from the base. Once Isabella had her car parked in the garage, she turned off its engine, grabbed the files sitting beside her and climbed out of the driver's seat. Next, she swiftly retrieved her duffel bags from the backseat and firmly closed her car's door. Then, with her arms full, she made her way up to the house's smaller entrance.

After turning the knob, she nudged the door open with her shoulder and had it shut behind her with a firm kick from her foot. From there, she carried her belongings through the tiny laundry room and into the main part of her house where she first deposited both bags beside the living room couch. Then with the folders still in her arms, she took the classified documents back into her bedroom just feet away and carefully placed the files at the food of her bed.

"Right..." Isabella spoke a loud, "I'll see to those in a bit." she told herself as she immediately fell into her evening routine.

The young woman turned and left the bedroom momentarily only to stop by the kitchen to prepare herself a simple peanut butter sandwich with raspberry jelly so she'd have something to snack on. By the time she got back, half of the sandwich was already gone. The other half disappeared as she then traveled into her bathroom and started running some hot water for a bath.

Now that she was home for the night, Isabella noted the way her back felt a bit stiff from the day's work. But she didn't mind the feeling. As a soldier, she was trained to embrace all types of pain. It was how one was made strong. Or at least that was what her father use to say...

Closing her bathroom door as the tub filled, allowing the room to grow warm and thick with steam, Isabella, with half her sandwich still hanging out of her mouth, carefully stripped off her clothes and slowly stepped into the tub.

At first the hot water made her cringe upon its first touch...but her body soon welcomed its heat as she sank down into its depths. Once engulfed, the young woman dropped her head back and closed her eyes, letting out a soft sigh of pleasure. "Silence...beautiful sil..."

Her moment of peace however was short-lived when Isabella faintly picked up on the tune 'Bad Romance' by Lady Gaga coming from somewhere inside her house. At once, Her turquoise blue eyes snapped open. "God damnit!" she swore under her breath as she quickly sprung herself up from the tub and climbed out. She then wasted no time snatching a white, fluffy towel off a hook that was hanging on the back of the bathroom's door.

Wrapping it around her torso, Isabella threw the door open and ran for her phone. It was a good thing she had her phone set on it max volume. Otherwise, she probably would've missed the call since she had forgotten the damn contraception was inside the duffel bag that she had left sitting in the living room.

After digging it out of the bottom of the bag, she pressed the talk button and put the cell phone to her ear, "Captain Wright speaking." She expertly spoke into the phone

"Captain..." came a serious but familiar voice.,

Isabella knew at once who had called. "General Speice." She acknowledged respectfully while waiting for him to continue.

"We have a problem."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2:

"We have a problem." Came the General's voice.

Isabella's brows furrowed softly at the news, "Sir?" she asked in slight confusion.

"I've just received word about a break in at the National War College." He elaborated.

Isabella was silent for a few seconds as she processed the information. "The...War College?" she repeated, "Here in Washington D.C.?" she carried on, "Well that doesn't make any sense." She answered. "Are we thinking possible terrorist attack?"

"Not terrorist. Cyber." General Speice answered gravely. "Apparently at exactly 1900 hours, someone managed a way into the building and hacked into the entire computer system."

Isabella's blue-green eyes widened slightly before she took a seat upon her bed, "Seems like a whole lot of trouble over a school …" she pointed out, half calmly half in disbelief, " The War College isn't equipped like the Pentagon... its purpose is strictly about the study of national security strategies and policies...everything kept on file in that building is just for educational functions."

"The break-in doesn't make much sense to us either, Captain. But nonetheless, what we need to focus on now is that it happened."

'Fair enough..." Isabella gave a long sigh as her brain began running through ideas. "Perhaps the attacker was confused about target locations..."She suggested, "...maybe he's new to the trade and his goal was something bigger than just college..."

"The jamming signals he used on the security cameras and alarm systems say otherwise, Captain."

Drawing in the left corner of her lip, Isabella lightly bit down on it in thought. "Alright...taking a different approach then, did they acquire anything important from this security breech?" she asked.

When General Speice sighed heavily in return, Isabella found herself holding her breath. "If by important you mean 'TOP SECRET' then no, Captain. The files they pulled up were nothing of that level." He answered.

Isabella shifted subtly in her seat, "Well that's a good thing then, isn't it? No real harm, no foul?"

"That last part is debatable at the moment, Captain..."

"Sir, I'm not following." the young woman answered. "... if they weren't looking for classified information then what were they looking for?" she further questioned.

"That's why I'm calling tonight Captain." General Speice began, "They were **your** personal files." He informed.

The young woman fell completely silent as she drew in a sharp breath of air. "Come again?" Had she heard him correctly?

"Out of the hundreds of thousands of records they had inside that building , yours was the only one singled out." He grimly explained. "They took everything from your High School transcripts to your Military Resume."

Isabella had to take another second to let the General's words sink in, "Well..." She started to speak, then realized she did not really know how to respond to such news. "...in light of the circumstances, I'm glad it wasn't terribly serious...I mean things could've been worse."

"Maybe, maybe not." General Speice added. "... clearly it seemed important to whoever broke into the system. And that's not all-We aren't 100% certain yet since they are still trying to unscramble the computer systems, but they might even have gotten a hold of some of your more personal information as well." He informed.

"Like what?" Isabella asked in a surprisingly calm manner,

"Medical files, contact numbers, possibly your street address." He answered tentatively.

Isabella's head inclined itself to the side as she noted the tone of the General's voice. "You sound worried, sir." she pointed out carefully as she began putting the pieces of information together.

"I am, Captain..."

"And I don't suppose you think this is just a horrendous case of identity theft, do you?"

"Based off what we know so far, no..."

Isabella nodded her head slowly, "Very well...what's the worst case scenario that we are looking at then, General?"

"Captain, we may haven't been able to figure out who did this or why..but we have suspicions to believe that someone may be targeting you for an unknown purpose." The seriousness of his words could not have been misunderstood to Isabella's ears.

"I will be completely honest with you, sir...I don't see why." the woman coolly confessed.

"Neither can we but nonetheless, we must be cautious." The General insisted.

Isabella once again gave an unseen nod of her head in agreement before sighing, "So what are your orders, sir?" she asked.

General Speice fell silent for a heavy moment. "Until we have a better idea of the possible intention behind this break-in, I think it would be wise for you to keep a low profile, Captain. I shall inform your father about this once I'm off the phone with you, and I ask that you- for at least the next few days-work at home and stay out of the public's eye." He answered.

Isabella openly cringed at his words. "Home, sir?" she repeated, not caring that her voice did not try and hide it's disappointment. He was putting her on forced leave...

"Will that be a problem, Captain?" General Speice asked in return.

Naturally, obediently, Isabella straightened up, "No, sir. Not at all." She responded with a much more firmer tone this time.

"Very good. Well then, I'll be in touch and shall let you know when we find out more about this unforeseen situation."

"Yes sir." She replied automatically. A click was then heard on the other end of the line, and Isabella knew that the phone call had been brought to an official end. With her phone still clutched in one hand, Isabella rose once more to her feet and retreated back inside the privacy of the bathroom and quietly shut the door behind her. Going through the motions as though nothing had happened, she dropped her towel to the floor before placing her cell phone safely on the corner of the tub. Then, stepping back into the fairly hot water, she lowered herself in. When the water had risen up to her neck, the woman's turquoise blue eyes fluttered closed with thought. "You know...I really hate Mondays…"

Isabelle tried her best to meditate in the hot water so as not to let herself get too work up over the phone call -it simply wouldn't do to overreact, she reminded herself. After all, they hardly had any real leads for the reason behind the break-in-but even so, she couldn't help but to continue vigorously contemplating General's Speice's words. Though the reason was immensely unclear to her, one particular thought kept echoing inside her head.

Someone was targeting her.

So lost in her own views and feelings on the matter, Isabella's heart nearly jumped all the way up to her throat minutes later when a comical rendition of The Beach Boys' "I get around" loudly sounded off and interrupted her thought process.

 _'Pick up your phoonnneee...pick up, pick up, pick up your phoooonnnneee'_

She didn't even bothering opening a single eye as she blindly reached for her cell phone once more. Lifting the phone up to her ear, Isabella dutifully answered the call, not sounding at all surprised at the sudden presence on the other end of the line. "Hey, Dad..." she greeted with a sigh, "...nice reaction time."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3:

It was early morning, the sun was just starting to rise. With her hair twisted up into an unkempt bun, wearing only a silky camisole as her 'uniform of the day', a rather stoic Isabella sat cross-legged upon her quilted queen-sized bed. It's padded surface was covered all around with papers and blueprint drawings from the stack of files she had been given the other day by her father. Since she had a deadline of 48 hours to read and report on everything, she thought it best to start the task early.

Currently in her lap, an open file sat before her, awaiting judgment. Isabella brows furrowed softly together in deep thought as her blue-green eyes carefully assessed the folder's contents. Once she was done, she picked up a notepad and pen lying beside her and decisively scribbled down her personal observations. When she had finished writing, she swiftly collected the folder together, dropping it on top of her nightstand-less than a foot away-before picking up another one and repeating the same process.

The stack on her nightstand had tripled by mid morning's end. All that remained for her to look over now were the folders in red. Reaching for the biggest file, she flipped the cover back with an almost lazy hand and retrieved the short summary report written specifically for the contents inside. Next, she pulled out some display sheets that charted model types and neatly laid them out in order in a half circle before her.

Starting at the top of the summary paper read the following bold words " **Nanomite Technology** ". The foreign name itself instantly caught Isabella's attention. It's summary, as Isabella carried on reading, further discussed the technological idea of constructing a new era of warheads using these so called Nanomites-with the proper programming, their exceptional design can eat through any kind of material, but specifically, they can eat metal. Using one hand, the young woman trailed her fingers across the instructional lines and schematics, memorizing every possible detail being portrayed as she vigilantly studied the file with an untiring intensity.

Reading the report out loud, Isabella felt a soft scowl set in on her face-not out of confusion...but out of distaste. "A single warhead can obliterate an entire heavy-duty military tank in just minutes. Once the Nanomites hit their target, they won't stop until the Kill Switch has been deactivated, disarming the Nanomites and preventing further destruction…" Her voice faded out as she glanced back down at the drawn out model of what this warhead would look like.

"What ever happened to a fair fight?" she asked herself. With a disapproving sigh and a slight shake of her head, she reached down and picked up her notepad and pen once more.

"This is idea is far more dangerous and unstable than anything else I've ever been exposed to." The young woman carried on writing. "Though the progress that has been made with technology can be appreciated, I feel it would be most unwise to manufacture this as a type of weaponry. What would happen if..." Isabella's train of thought was soon interrupted when her phone, also lying on the nightstand beside the bed, went off.

The catchy jingle reached her ears, signaling that a text message had been received. After tucking her pen behind an ear, Isabelle leaned over and reached for her phone. As she hit the 'view' button on the phone, these words appeared on the screen,

" _ **Enjoying your time off from work, Captain?"**_ The number was listed as unknown, forcing the young woman to raise a single eyebrow up at the anonymous question.

Isabella turned her phone sideways and slid its keypad out before she swiftly typing back, _**"And who might this be?"**_

Seconds later her phone went off again, _**"That's a secret."**_ her screen read.

Instinctively, Isabella's grew wary. " _ **Do I know you?"**_ she questioned.

Another moment passed by before she got a response, _**"No...but I do believe that after last night, you want to know me now..."**_ her screen returned.

A frown gently pulled at her lips before Isabella shook her head and wrote back, _**"This is hardly the way**_ _**to interrogate properly."**_ She stated.

After a minute of silence her phone sounded off once more, _**"Oh, there will be plenty of time for interrogations later."**_

Isabella felt her entire body stiffen from head to toe. _**"Is that a threat?"**_ She typed those words with aggressive fingertips.

The moment she felt her phone give its alert in her hand once more, she hit the button and viewed the message.

" _ **Consider it an invitation."**_

Isabella's response was swift and curt. _**"Consider it denied."**_

Afterwards, her phone became uncomfortably quiet for a couple long minutes until finally, it played its brief jingle one more time. _**"Until we meet then.…"**_ Following that last message, her phone entered a silence.

Isabella's hand closed tightly around her phone-then, with her other hand, she gathered up the scattered files on her bed and placed them in a neat pile at its foot. Getting to her feet a moment later, the young woman headed over to her dresser and hunted down a change of clothes.

She was going to have to go in and report this-her Senior Officers will be wanting to see in details the conversation that just took place. But as the young woman began to get dressed, something in the back of her mind began to deeply disturb Isabella the more she contemplated the recent contact:

Firstly, whoever had written her, was clearly involved with the break-in at the War College. How else could they have gotten a hold of her personal cell phone number?  
Secondly...this person is aware that she's suppose to be laying low..which could only mean that someone is keeping tabs on her physical whereabouts.  
And finally...but most importantly- they're planning a meeting.

* * *

 _(Somewhere inside the Cobra's hidden base..)_

With a subtle and amused smirk on his face, a tall and built man with dark hair and eyes had just flipped his communicating device closed and slid it inside his pristine white pants pocket.

"Well Storm Shadow?" The Doctor's low and chilling voice asked impatiently.

Storm Shadow turned towards the man with a triumphant gleam behind his dark eyes. "She got the invitation." He informed. "Whether she wanted it or not."

The Doctor gave a soft chuckle, "Good….very good." The Doctor stated, feeling quite pleased that his plan was working. He then turned away from Storm Shadow to check up on a file that was lying on a table, "You know….originally I was going to test out newly created Viper to get this job done... but James McCullen insisted that you should be the one to handle the task."

"I've never failed in completing a mission." Storm Shadow calmly pointed out.

"Which is why we're sending you now... though I must admit….." The Doctor began as he looked up from his readings to glance over at where Storm Shadow stood, "….it will be quite interesting.. seeing how you'll take care of it." he stated.

"She won't be anything I can't handle I assure you." Storm Shadow guaranteed.

"Well I'd hope so." James McCullen's voice suddenly spoke up as he walked into the room with the other two men, "You have quite the winning streak going for you...how ironic it would be if you got bested by a young woman now." He stated with his heavy accented voice.

Storm Shadow turned his dark eyes upon McCullen, "Like I said before, it won't be anything I can't handle. It will be as simple as picking a flower off a bush." He coolly replied.

"Ah, but be mindful…..some flowers carry thorns." The Doctor quickly threw back with a quiet chuckle.

A small smirk pulled at Storm Shadow's mouth, "Well then..." he spoke as he reached into a white sleeve and brought out one of his many throwing stars, letting the blade spin suggestively about his fingertips, "…..I won't hesitate to dethorn the flower if necessary."

Both McCullen and The Doctor seemed satisfied with his response and gave a soft nod of approval, "Do what you must Storm Shadow." McCullen ordered, "Just be sure that whatever you do, it is concealed." James McCullen cautioned, "... this girl's father has some very powerful connections and if he discovers foul play being committed against his daughter before we are able to implement some control... that could arouse some trouble for us in many directions and we can't afford that." McCullen swiftly reminded him.

Storm Shadow gave a soft nod of his head in understanding, "It will be done." He agreed.

"One more thing Storm Shadow…." The Doctor quickly spoke up once more, "….I'd prefer any type of maiming to be kept to a bare minimum. She'll need to be in complete health for what will be coming towards her upon arrival here."

Once again, the white ninja nodded in understanding. "Of course." With his orders given, Storm Shadow's holographic figure then faded from scene.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4:

Inching her car up to the security check at the base's front gate, Isabella rolled the driver's window down and proceeded by handing her military ID over to the guard on watch. While the Sergeant carefully looked it over, she then reached into her purse, grabbed an icebreaker cube of gum from its bottle and popped it into her mouth.

After verifying the authenticity of the ID, the Sergeant nodded his head and handing it back. "Thank you, Captain." he greeted before offering a respectful salute.

The young woman gave a slight nod of her head in acknowledgement."Carry on, solider." she returned, snapping her gum quietly before she herself carried on driving through the gate and onto the Quantico Base.

From there, it was a short drive to her building, over at Headquarters. Since she had hurriedly left her apartment the moment she had gotten dressed, Isabella took a quick moment to fix her hair as she pulled into her marked parking spot up front -gathering her long red-blonde hair over a shoulder before quickly weaving it into a simple braid.

When she was satisfied as she could be with her casual attire, Isabella exited her vehicle. Coming around the front of her car, she stopped at the passenger's side door-there was something under the seat that she needed to collect.

Closing her hand around its handle, she gave it a tug and opened the door halfway. As her hand retreated however, she felt her fingers brush over an unfamiliar characteristic.

The young woman immediately halted her movements, eyeing the handle for a long moment before she extended a slow hand once more and warily trailed her fingertips behind and along the backside of the handle's grip. Paranoia wasn't something Isabella commonly experienced-but she sure as hell was on alert.

Sure enough, by the tip of her middle finger, she felt a protrusion standing out in the middle of the cooler metal that was the handle of her car. The woman carefully circled it with her finger- it almost felt warm to the touch.

Curling the digit under it and applying pressure, Isabella found herself holding her breath as the unknown protuberance became dislodged in her fist. Bringing it up to about chest level, the woman uncurled her hand and stared down at the object lying now inside her palm.

"This can't be coincidental...things are starting to escalate..." Isabella noted as she continued her assessment on the foreign object.

It was no bigger than a coffee bean with a flat, adhesive underside-it was dark in color too. The one exception to its coloring however was the tiny pulsing flash of yellow-green in its center.

The young woman didn't have to contemplate long what the purpose of this thing was. Its model type wasn't something she was accustomed to seeing...but with its tiny, simplex size, she knew it couldn't be an IED-leaving only one other possibility.

Staying calm, Isabella inhaled deeply before she used her free hand and retrieved the piece of chewing gum from her mouth. "Just act natural..."she reminded herself as she then used her thumb, to smash the blue, minty paste around the bug, encasing its entire body. Glancing up from her work, her eyes then spotted a trash receptacle on the sidewalk just a couple cars down from her.

"Right." she stated out loud. Keeping the gum covered bugging-device rolling in between her pointer and thumb, Isabella bent forward and swiftly reached her free hand down and under the passenger's side seat. When it emerged a moment later, her hand was closed around a small 380 handheld which she then casually slipped inside the secure confinements of her purse.

After manually hitting the lock button on the inside of her car, Isabella firmly pushed her car door closed a moment later.

Keeping her head held high, the young woman started towards her building and without even pausing in step, she informally discarded the illicit tracking device into the trash can.

* * *

"General Wright..." the voice over his phone's intercom announced.

Isabella's father paused his computer typing to hit the talk button on the communication device that resided right next to his monitor. "Yes, what is it Major?"

"Captain Wright is here to see you."

At the information, the General froze and straightened up in his chair. "Send her in." he answered, "See that no one disturbs us until I say otherwise."

"Yes, sir."

His office door opened a minute later, and his nonchalant daughter walked purposefully right on in. As she approached his desk, General Wright rose to his feet and found himself suddenly hit with a thought-even as her father, it was strange seeing her out of military uniform, especially here at Headquarters. The dark blue skinny jeans paired with lacy black flats and a navy blue, v-neck tee-shirt reminded him that underneath his daughter's cool military appearance, Isabella still had a feminine side. Even though she didn't care too much to show it.

"Bella..." The General spoke, though he was happy to see her well, in spite of the recent circumstances, his voice carried the infamously chastising tone only a father could use. "You're supposed to be keeping a low profile...what on earth are you doing here?"

Reaching into her front pocket, Isabella pulled out her phone. "I'm here to make a report."

"From your phone?" General Wright's brown eyes over his daughter from head to toe, "You workaholic...your 're on leave right now, Bella...per General Speice's orders. That means I am unable to accept any kind of briefing you may have prepared."

"Really?" Isabella fixed her father with a firm look, "It's not like that dad..." Pulling up her inbox, the woman opened up the conversation that took place earlier this morning. "Just look at this." Without another word, Isabella extended her phone out for her father to take.

"What is it?" He returned as he collected the cellular device and started reading through the messages.

Isabella watched a heavy frown set in on her dad's face the longer he stared at her phone's screen. "Is there any more?" he finally spoke, signaling that he had finished reading before he set the phone down on his desk with a surprisingly calm hand.

"Written contact?" She clarified, "...no. But I did locate a bug on my car this morning when I arrived here, on base."

General Wright closed his brown eyes before taking a seat behind his desk once more. "Did you destroy it?"he asked as he leaned forward on his elbows to rest his chin on the tops of his hands.

"Not in the proper sense." Isabella answered. "I didn't want to trip any sort of signal to whoever is behind this that I'm aware of their...presence."

"So what did you do with it?"

"It's outside...in a garbage can that was posted just a couple feet away from my car."

"That was probably a good move..." her father gently praised. "But you know this is serious, Bella..." General spoke, opening his eyes to see his daughter staring back before he shook his head with a sigh, "...what could this mean?" he asked in a softer tone.

All Isabella could do was shrug a shoulder, "I suppose someone is expecting me to feel scared by all of this..." she answered, "Perhaps they're just looking for a reaction."

"Hmm..." Isabella's father thoroughly considered his daughter's words. "Very well...let's give them a reaction then." Reaching in his cargo pocket, General Wright pulled forth two personal items and set them before Isabella on top of his desk.

"Uh...dad?" Isabella was perplexed as she found herself staring at her father's own blackberry and personal car keys.

"Give me your keys. And I'm holding onto your phone." He explained firmly. "You're to take my truck...go home and grab only the essentials you'll need for the next week. I'm going to call in and get you into a hotel room here on base. It's safe here."

"Wha...do you think that's going work?" As uncertain as she was about her dad's idea, Isabella complied and handed over her car keys before collecting her dad's.

General Wright collected his daughter's phone and keys with one large hand. "We're going to test it out. After all, didn't someone say that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction?"

Picking up her dad's blackberry, Isabella slipped the device into the left front pocket of her jeans, "Well yes...but I don't think Newton's Third Law can be applied to this..."

"Well we are going to find out."

Hearing her father's resolve in his words, Isabella ceased her arguments. "Okay...Let's try it."

Nodding his head- pleased with his daughter's cooperation-General Wright reached for his office phone and began dialing numbers. "At the very least...this may be able to buy us time, Bella. Now go. Run home and be quick. And I want you to shoot a text me every 15 minutes until you make it back to base. Is that Understood?" His eye contact with her never broke once.

The young woman nodded in response, "Yes, dad."

"Good...now be safe...and stay alert." General Wright added as he raised the phone up to his ear, "We will reach the bottom of this soon, honey..." His voice carried off only for a moment before he took on a completely different tone. "Good afternoon Janette, this is General Robert Wright of the U.S.M.C...I was calling in to check your availability for the next week or so?

Taking that as her dismissal, Isabella turned on her heel, crossed the office floor and departed the office's security.

Making her way through the building, Isabella noted the small amounts of traffic along the way and figured that everyone must be heading to the Chow Hall for lunch. On her way out of Headquarters, Isabella had been so focused on making her list of necessities she's needing to collect from home, that she didn't see the person approaching the door on the outside. After almost nearly throwing the door open, Isabella had not even a second's notice before she found herself walking right into the chest of a complete stranger.

Stumbling back a step or so, Isabella quickly regained her balance as she sincerely offered an apology, "Forgive me..." she spoke as her blue-green eyes locked onto the face of a man who was brushing himself off. He had Asian features with dark hair and even darker eyes and he was dressed from shoulders to feet in a white business suit, "I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going."

The man's dark eyes swiftly swept down her body before going back up to her face before offering her a half-smile, "Don't worry about it. " he assured. Though the man spoke perfect English, based off the accent he carried, Isabella guessed it wasn't his native tongue, "No harm done."

Having nothing else to say, Isabella nodded her head briefly before she slipped around his form. Feeling his eyes upon her still, Isabella glanced back over her shoulder and found the man staring intently. Without meaning to, Isabella looked away and quickened her pace down the stone steps to the sidewalk before making haste over to her father's black truck. "Interesting..." she told herself, "He's new on base...must be visiting from out of town."

Reaching the driver's side door, she fished the keys out of her purse and unlocked the massive vehicle that was easily twice the size of her own car before climbing up inside. She started the truck up with knowing hands and threw it into reverse before smoothly pulling out of the parking spot. Then, with a clear path before her, Isabella drove off.

As she entered the highway, Isabella was surprised to see that even with the lunch-hour traffic, she was able to make decent time heading home. Right before she made the turn off from the highway and found herself driving down her street, Isabella quickly pulled out her father's blackberry and jotted down a quick message:

" **Pulling up to apartment now.** "

As she sent the text off, Isabella was steering the big truck up in front of her residence before parking it alongside the street's curb. After shutting the engine off, she then took a moment to grab her purse from the chair beside her with one hand then used her other to open the truck's door before carefully hopping out.

Pushing the hefty door closed a second later, Isabella hooked her purse on her left shoulder and started around the front of the truck. But after a couple of steps, she found herself slowing down when her eyes took notice of a large, unfamiliar black Hummer that was parked diagonally across from her residence.

"That wasn't there when I left this morning..." Isabella's mind was already issuing a warning, "And it definitely doesn't belong to anyone living around here.."

Peering closer at the vehicle, Isabella noticed that because of its rolled down window, there was a man sitting behind its wheel. He must've picked up on the young woman's growing awareness of him because the man's head turned to look directly at her. Without looking away, he reached a hand up and touched something around his ear before his lips moved to mutter something aloud.

At that exact moment, Isabella felt her stomach drop. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

If she read had his body language correctly, that simple action could mean some serious trouble.

Spurring her feet forward, the young woman quickly sought her house key within her purse's side pocket as she made her way up to her apartment's front door-practically jogging.

Took her but a second to get the door unlocked. Then, she threw open her front door just long enough to slip inside and slam it shut once more.

Sliding the deadbolt in its place, Isabella turned away from the entrance way and made her way further into her apartment complex. "Fuck...Don't panic..."she swore out loud before looking down and reaching a steady hand into the main pouch of her purse. It was consolidating when Isabella's fingers closed firmly around the cool, hand grip of gun that was lying carefully at the bottom.

With her gun out, Isabella dropped her purse to the floor and quickly ejected the gun's magazine's carton into an open hand, drew back its slide and checked for the number of rounds it currently held. "2..4,6...8" she counted a loud before popping the magazine back into place and sent the slide forward, effectively chambering the first round in her 380. "Not much to work with..."

Outside, Isabella could hear the distinctive sound of a car door opening up and slamming shut. Taking the safety off with the swipe of her thumb, the young woman moved into her living room and began prepping herself for the fight that she felt sure was to come from this.

But before anything could progress, Isabella sought her father's blackberry from her front pocket and had just enough time to type a final message: " **Dad, I've been compromised.** "

As soon as she had pressed that 'send' button, Isabella picked up the faint sound of movement approaching her from behind by the creaking of the floor. Drawing in a solid breath of air into her lungs to keep her growing nerves in check, she moved a finger to the gun's trigger-and then, Isabella dropped the blackberry from her hand and turned around.

A flash of white coming at her was all her vision could make out before she fearlessly began to open fire. The first three rounds came out within the blink of an eye. But to her astonishment, the bullets didn't make their mark. The intruder had managed to dodge the rounds by executing a perfect butterfly kick, all the while whipping out his own weapon to counter Isabella's.

When the white clad figure's feet planted themselves back on the ground, Isabella watched the flash of the katana that he carried as he twirled it effortlessly within his hand. "That's not very hospitable." he spoke the almost scolding words through a white mask that covered nearly his whole face, and left only his dark eyes exposed.

The young woman's eyes widened. His eyes..she had seen them before. Even his voice was familiar. "You..." she replied- half in disbelief and half in outrage. She may not be able to see his face now, but she knew it was the man in the white suit from earlier. "What the hell do you want? And how did you get into my apartment?"

The white clad ninja's head fell slightly to the side, "Do you really care to know?" he returned as a tiny smirk pulled at his covered lips, "...or would you prefer to just shoot me?" he provoked.

"You know what?" Isabella answered as she aligned her sights and once more took aim, "Let's go with the latter."

Before Isabella could pull the trigger, the man lunged forward- taking a powerful swipe at her weapon with his Katana and effectively knocked the gun right out from her hands.

Isabella watched with horrified eyes as her only weapon flew across the room and out of her reach. He was too fast for her. Left with dwindling means of self-defense, and knowing it was probably going to be long shot, Isabella made a run for the kitchen, in hopes of getting her hands on a knife that she could throw.

But after anticipating the young woman's move, the man in white sprung into action. Picking up a large dark blanket from the couch that was feet away from him, he charged across the room, throwing the material over the young woman's head.

With Isabella blinded and momentarily restrained, the white clad ninja was able to easily catch her smaller form in his arms before hoisting her up and over his shoulder.

A shout of protest escaped Isabella's lips as she wildly began thrashing about in an attempt to escape the man's hold as well as the makeshift binding. But this man was strong and he did not ease up.

Before she knew it, Isabella could feel herself being forcefully taken from her house and within a minute and half, was soon roughly thrown into the back of what she guessed was the black hummer.

Next, she felt the white clad ninja climb inside after her before he uttered a single, sharp word. "Drive!" he commanded.

As the vehicle started up and took off down the road, Isabella's arms freed themselves from the confinements of the blanket. Then, once her arms had found a way out of the material, she yanked the cover off her body and tossed it away before clambering to her feet.

Her eyes frantically took in the details of her new surroundings before landing on the side door that was arms reach away. Isabella made a dive for it, only to have the white clad ninja's strong arms wrap themselves around her waist from behind.

"Too slow." he spoke, tugging her close until she lost her balance and fell back across his lap. Isabella fell against his firm chest while he continue keeping one arm around her as an anchor to keep her in place.

"Get your hands off me!" Isabella demanded as she attempted to pry his arm off from around the small of her waist.

"Ssshhhh..." he coolly replied, dismissing Isabella's request entirely. Reaching his other hand casually into a pocket on his white coat, his hands pulled forth a piece of colorless cloth. Keeping his dark eyes forward on the road from his position in the back of the Hummer, he then raised the material up and covered the squirming woman's mouth and nose.

Isabella gave another quick cry of protest against his hand as she briefly inhaled and detected the sweet but bitter scent that she recognized as Chloroform. Her struggles lasted only another minute before the young woman found her vision first grow faint-a moment later, she fell unconscious.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5:

As the black hummer came to a stop, it hit a small pothole along the road, causing Isabella's limp head to lightly bounce against the floor in the back of the vehicle, bringing her around. Her turquoise blue eyes slowly swept open, first in confusion...but after a few moments of recollecting silence, the events that took place all came rushing back.

"Oh my god..." Isabella thought to herself incredulously as she found herself staring at the empty rear chair of the Hummer-this had to be a dream. When the young woman tried pushing herself up to a sitting position on the floor, she found that both of her hands had been tightly secured in front of her with a piece of nylon rope. Her eyes narrowed softly at the restrictive bonds while her mouth turned down in an irritated frown. "Nope...this...this really happened..."

The car's back door was suddenly thrown open, causing Isabella to jump with mild alarm as her head turned over her shoulder. The moment of apprehension however was soon replaced by an immediate sense of antipathy as her eyes landed on the man dressed in white. "Oh, good...just the man I want to see..." she grumbled. Her throat felt dry-no doubt an effect of the chloroform- but her tone was thick with sarcasm.

With his mask down this time, the white ninja gave a tiny amused smirk before he reached into the car and took hold of Isabella by her arm. "Let's go." He forcefully pulled the young woman towards him and out of the vehicle-but the moment Isabella's feet touched solid cement, her knees buckled under the hasty movement.

Steadying herself with the help of the ajar door beside her, Isabella glared heavily at the man in white before jerking her arm out of his grasp. "I said don't touch me, remember..." she advised.

The man in white disapprovingly clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Don't be difficult now ." He replied with amusement flashing behind his dark eyes as he took hold of Isabella once more, only this time, by the shoulder. "Walk." He ordered as he gave her a nudge forward.

Unable to do anything else at the present moment, a disgruntled Isabella allowed herself to be guided in the direction her captor wanted. While they walked along, the young woman hurriedly eyed the current environs- they were in the middle of a clearing, far from any road and visible sign of civilization. Such factors made Isabella's heart sink with disappointment...looks like she was going to be stuck in her current predicament for the time being.

As it was, less than twenty feet away from them, stood a large jet which they were rapidly approaching. Its ramp was already down and appeared to be waiting for them. Isabella paused in step only once when she stood at its bottom to look up into the unknown aircraft, "I've never really cared for flying..." the murmured confession only earned her another vigorous push against her back that then took her up the slope and into the ship.

Once inside the hold, the ship's door closed behind them.

Isabella spared a thoughtful glance back at the exit point-and it did not go unnoticed.

Reading her thought process by the daring expression behind her eyes, the man in white came up beside her, took her firmly by the arm and wasted no time hauling her up to the front of the aircraft with him. He then carelessly tossed her into one of the front row seats, forcing her to sit down before he turned away and called up to the pilots,

"Take off!" he ordered, "Set a course for the base." Once the order was given, he circled back around and took a moment to study the young woman before him-she appeared to be in the middle of assessing the interior setup of the aircraft. He slightly cocked his head to the side as his dark eyes traced over the woman's features as her head continued turning about with her silent observations.

When she became aware of his attention a moment later, her focus shifted directly to him, where he found her blue-green eyes alight with a soft fire that radiated both her uncertainty and her unspoken anger. "You sure are a funny one." He stated as he crossed his arms over his chest, a small smirk curled his lips.

The woman's eyes narrowed, "Think so?" she returned.

"Still trying to chart an escape route?" At his question, he watched Isabella's eyes dropped to her bound hands sitting calmly in her lap. "That's what I thought." he added knowingly. "Stupid soldiers are so predictable..."

Outrage forced her eyes back up before Isabella opened her mouth to make a rather rude remark.  
But before she could utter a word, she had to cut herself off as a life-sized holographic showing of a man dressed in a fine suit appeared out of the overhead.

"Was it a success, Storm Shadow?" James McCullen asked.

Though she tried her best to remain as expressionless as she could, Isabella couldn't help it when her lips parted in wonder at what she was witnessing. In all her years of being around the latest technology, she had never seen such an explicit hologram before..and certainly not while being on a plane.

As much as she hated to admit it... it was impressive.

Storm Shadow nodded and with a slight jerk of his head, signaled over to where Isabella sat. "You tell me." He answered.

Both men half-turned and looked down at the young woman sitting in the chair. She remained quiet as her sharp blue-green eyes flickered back and forth between the two men.

James McCullen quickly eyed her up and down before he nodded his head in approval, "Very good." He stated, "She hasn't been causing much trouble for you, I take it?" he asked as he turned his attention onto the tight bonds that kept her wrists secured.

"Not at all." Storm Shadow replied.

James McCullen looked back over at Storm Shadow, "You've done well. Make sure she's completely unaware of the base's location before you arrive ." He reminded.

"Of course."

With that said, James McCullen faded from scene.

Alone with her captor once more, Isabella raised an eyebrow up at the tall man in white standing before her, "Storm Shadow, huh?" she repeated his name, "….what kind of name is that?" she asked.

Storm Shadow also arched an eyebrow down at her before retorting, "What kind of name is Strider?"

At the mention of her military nickname, Isabella tensed up. "Found that in my profile, did you?" she demanded. "You were the one who broke into the War College and stole my files, yes?"

Storm Shadow chuckled softly, "Yes, that was me." He shamelessly answered while he took a seat in a chair directly across from Isabella. "I make it a point to know my targets before I retrieve them." he explained before placing both of his hands comfortably behind his neck as he leaned back against the chair and closed his dark eyes.

Meanwhile, Isabella shifted herself forward in hers, "You were sent to retrieve me?" She inquired, sounding slightly surprised at the information. "Under who's orders? That man from the hologram?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Firmly, Isabella continued her questioning, "Who is he?"

"James McCullen..."

"And what does he want with me?"

"That's not my place to tell you..."

Displeased by his answer, Isabella glowered heavily in her seat. "Fine..." she grumbled under her breath before taking a curt second to clear her throat, "Might I be able to stand for a bit then and stretch my legs?" the question was relatively polite, "Seems the car ride made them a little stiff..."The last part was strictly antagonizing.

Even with his eyes closed, Storm Shadow smiled. "Be my guest." He replied, obviously entertained by the request. And besides, he reminded himself, her hands were bound and they had just taken off-what trouble could this one woman do before he could stop it?

Isabella inwardly sighed with relief before she slowly rose to her feet. "Thank you." she returned as she moved into the aisle and over to the farthest wall she could manage within the aircraft's close quarters. The young woman then raised her arms above her head and took a few moments to stretch-leaning from side to side-all the while trying to secretly loosen the cord that had been secured around her wrists.

"Don't even try it." Storm Shadow's voice suddenly spoke out as he opened one of his eyes to glance over at Isabella standing off to the side about five feet away.

The young woman instantly ceased her efforts, lowering her arms back to her front. "Try what?" she replied, "I'm just stretching." her eyes flashed boldly with her apparent lie.

Storm Shadow softly chuckled as his dark eyes opened fully, "Careful..." he cautioned the young woman, "I don't like being lied to..." He purposefully warned.

"Fair enough..." Isabella agreed in a falsely thoughtful tone."...frankly, I don't enjoy getting whisked away by some ninja-wanna-be in suit..." At that, all amusement was washed from Storm Shadow's face, "... so I guess we both have our pet peev..."

At her remark, Storm Shadow's arm moved-and when it did, Isabella felt a stinging pain cross her cheek as something whizzed by her head before it stuck into the wall directly behind her.

Momentary shock left the wide-eyed, young woman rigid and silent as her head turned slowly over her shoulder to see a single, gleaming shuriken biting into the wall's surface. Still in a daze at what had just occurred, Isabella brought her bound hands up so that her fingertips could touch the throbbing spot along her cheek and was met with a warm trail of blood.

The sound of Storm Shadow's hand coming down hard on the wall beside her head a second later was enough to shake Isabella out of her bewilderment, only to find herself in close proximities with the white clad ninja before her. His arm acted like a cage, forcing Isabella to step back until her entire backside was flat against the wall behind her.

Looking down on the woman's smaller form, he was amazed to see her managing the ability to stand as tall as she was against him even when he could now see the flickering of possible fear behind her eyes. This woman had courage-he had to give her that.

"That was a warning..." Storm Shadow's voice was low and dangerous as it shattered the silence that had settled between them. "Now I happen to be under strict orders that keep me from bringing you in..." he paused to think of the proper wording, "..too bloodied. However..." His fingers closed around the shuriken beside Isabella's head which he then proceeded to extract rather easily from the wall before stepping back, "Piss me off again, and I won't hesitate to make an exception. Got it?"

Isabella found herself holding her breath at the promised threat. "Yeah." she answered quietly, "Noted."

Appeased, Storm Shadow tucked his shuriken back up into his sleeve while then reaching into his white coat pocket and pulling out a neatly folded handkerchief which he then tossed into the young woman's face, "Here...clean up before sitting down." he directed as he moved away and went back to his own seat. "A hole in the wall is one thing to explain to McCullen...blood on the carpet and seats is something else."

Isabella scowled but brought the soft cloth up to her cheek a moment later and began applying gentle pressure to the open cut. "This is astonishingly civilized of you..." she pointed out.

"Well, there's no reason to not be civilized..." he retorted, "...at the moment at least."

Rolling her eyes briefly, Isabella slowly returned to her seat across from Storm Shadow- deciding that it would probably best for now to just sit quietly, impatiently even until they reach their unknown destination. After all, it wasn't like she would be able to plan a successful escape until she could figure out just where exactly she is being taken to-and something was already telling her that she would need to know precisely what her resources were going to be with whoever these guys were.

After hours of flight time had passed, a device on Storm Shadow's person sounded off. The white clad ninja casually reached inside his pants pocket and pulled out the handheld gadget before he glanced at the screen and silenced the repetitive form of beeping with a swipe of his thumb.

"Ah...We'll be arriving shortly." He offhandedly stated before standing up from his seat, only to slip his communications device away once more. He swiftly moved up front and entered the cockpit, taking care to pass on a few soft spoken words with the pilots. When he reemerged a minute later, he appeared to be carrying something in his hand.

Isabella could see that he was holding something but she was unable to make out what it was until he had come to stand directly in front of her and held it up for her to see. The woman's eyes widened and her body grew tense. "No..." The word was practically a whisper.

"So sorry about this..." Storm Shadow started explaining as he held up a long syringe, "...but it's simply for precautions." He stated, though he didn't sound the least bit apologetic about what he was about to do.

Isabella shook her red-blonde head as her eyes flashed up to his-and Storm Shadow could see that the nervous light was back. "I thought you said there was no reason to not be civilized here?"

Storm Shadow's dark head fell slightly to one side as though considering Isabella's words, only to then reach a hand out and firmly took the young woman by the nape of her neck. Forcing her head all the way back against the neck rest of the chair and completely exposed her neck. "Well, unfortunately for you..." he answered lazily, "...I now have a reason."

Isabella gritted her teeth and took a moment to try and jerk her body free from his grip. "You son of a bit..." Storm Shadow painfully tightened his hold, cutting off Isabella's words while pinning her to the seat.

With his other hand, he brought the needle down and stuck it deep into her neck. The young woman gave a curt cry as the needle pierced through sensitive skin and tissue before she felt the burning that followed as it injected its contents directly into her blood stream.

By the time Storm Shadow had removed the needle from her neck a moment later, Isabella was out cold…

* * *

The moment the ship had touched bases on the ground, Storm Shadow already had the unconscious body of Isabella scooped up into his arms. As he proceeded with carrying her off the jet, a gust of freezing, snowy air hit them dead on once he had stepped off the ramp. With no difficulty, Storm Shadow quickened his long strides to get them both out of the bad weather.

Upon seeing the white clad ninja-with his arms full- pass under the archway that had been carved into the side of an iceberg, the viper solider standing guard activated the secret door which opened just as he approached, giving Storm Shadow access into the elevator shaft that would descend below and into the Cobra's Base.

When the elevator hit its destination a couple minutes later, and he stepped through the hatch door that had been opened for him from the outside, Storm Shadow was greeted by the awaiting Doctor.

"Ah, Storm Shadow…" the Doctor spoke with his hands clasped behind his back, "…you made nice timing." he stated.

"Of course." Storm Shadow nodded silently before he glanced down on the young woman in his arms, He replied, "….so what shall I do with the sleeping beauty here?" he returned.

The Doctor chuckled softly before he signaled Storm Shadow to follow him with a wave of his hand, "McCullen gave me permission to have a special cell prepared for her. Follow me." The Doctor answered as he turned and led the way further into the base.

Storm Shadow obediently followed the Doctor through multiple passageways until finally, they came to a single door that had been separated from the other cells. After punching in a short 4-digit code, it opened with a soft hiss before the two men entered the diminutive room where the one piece of furniture inside was supposed to be a simple black cot-but as Storm Shadow stepped further into the room, he quickly realized that this wasn't just an ordinary holding cell.

Stretching out against the far wall beside a long, metal table was an entire set up of medical equipment. Storm Shadow took a moment to note the prepped IV Bag hanging on its stand beside what appeared to be a sterilized operating table. Then, as his dark eyes assessed the small tray of invasive looking instruments that resided at the head of the table- that the Doctor was currently rearranging-he half-turned towards the Doctor and arched a quick brow.

"Do I even want to know?" he asked.

"The Operating room is currently occupied with a recovering patient...so, until his screaming stops, I'm improvising." the Doctor returned with a curt laugh without glancing up from his organizing, "Now, if you will." he added as he directed the white ninja to place the unconscious woman down onto the table before him.

Without asking questions, even though he was beginning to have a few, Storm Shadow followed the instructions. He was even considerate enough to carefully set the woman down upon the chilly, paper-lined table. "Thank you." The Doctor finished as he moved around the table to stand alongside Isabella's limp form.

Storm Shadow quietly moved aside, giving the Doctor his needed space to work. "How long has she been out?" the Doctor asked curiously as he reached two gloved fingers down to check the pulse in the young woman's neck. A strong and healthy flutter moved beneath his touch.

"No more than 30 minutes." Storm Shadow answered easily.

"And there were no complications?" The Doctor questioned persistently as his eyes started examining the unconscious woman, "Besides the light abrasion of the epidermis going across her left mala...she appears to be in superb physical condition."

"Ah, that came from a demonstration..which led to there being no further complications." The white ninja assured.

"Excellent." Pleased, the Doctor reached for the IV stand, wheeling it closer to the table's side, "Then we can proceed. Would you please unbind her hands for me?"

Reaching up his sleeve, Storm Shadow took up a sharpened throwing knife and stepped up to the table's side once more. With a practiced hand, he sliced through the nylon rope that had her wrists secured tightly together, allowing the woman's arms to gently fall to their place at her side.

Grabbing the easiest arm in his reach, The Doctor then turned it over so that the palm was facing the ceiling. While he then began applying a light coating of Iodine to her skin with one hand, his other one was using only his fingertips to feel along the crook of her elbow, "Ah..." he quietly exclaimed, "There it is..." Keeping his middle finger on a particular spot, the Doctor then reached for the IV he had prepped earlier and uncapped the needle that was at its end.

"I take it that she won't be waking up anytime soon?" Storm Shadow asked with mild interest as he then watched the Doctor steadily stick the IV needle deep into the arm's vein.

Once he had it set in place, the Doctor then reached up and turned a small little knob on the top of the IV bag to get it's drip started, therefore transferring its sleep-inducing contents into Isabella's bloodstream. "If this new procedure of mine is successful, she'll be up and functioning with full capabilities in the next 48 hours...72 at the latest."

"I've never heard of one of your operations lasting so long..."

The Doctor chuckled as he took off his leather work gloves and replaced them with black latex ones, "Well, technically it won't...you see, it's not the operating part that will hold all the uncertainties..." he answered as he drew his tray of clamps, syringes, and gauze squares closer. "...it's going to be the aftermath."

"How so?" Storm Shadow remarked.

"Even I can't fully say..." The Doctor answered. "She's going to be the first to experience such a procedure." Picking up one of his clamps, the Doctor leaned over the unconscious woman and started his work. "Oh, speaking of which, Storm Shadow..." he added halting his operation as though genuinely remembering something importantly, "You may not want to hang around for this..."

Straightening up at the dismissal, the white clad ninja turned on his heel and headed for the cell's door. "Understood." It was probably better that he not know just what sort of twisted practice the Doctor was about to inflict upon the unsuspecting young woman.

Wasting no time, Storm Shadow punched in the door's code to have the cell door open before he stepped outside and quietly departed down the passageway, leaving the infamous Doctor to his new experimentation.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6:

 _THUMPTHUMP-THUMPTHUMP_

The pounding of blood inside her head was deafening. It was the silent scream of her body in pain...and it had brought her back from the darkness.

Pain...

Why was she in pain? Being drugged into sleep shouldn't be painful...

And yet, it felt as though her head was in the middle of battling a dreadful hangover-the throbbing of the migraine alone was on the brink of nauseating.

Groaning, Isabella willed herself to open her eyes. But she was met with an unexpected resistance. She tried harder...but for some reason, it felt as though her eyes had sealed themselves shut.

Shifting her body around slightly on what she guessed was thinly padded cot-low to the ground-the young woman realized that her hands had been freed from their bonds while she had been sleeping. Raising her arm up from her side, Isabella brought her hand down to her eyes...and in return, her fingers were met with a soft, gauze-like cloth.

At once, Isabella could feel her heart freeze within her chest-and suddenly, the aching of her head didn't seem so relevant. "Why..." Before she could finish the question, she slipped her fingertips under the material and touched her eyes.

Straightaway, there was an underlying tenderness-similar to that of a bruise-and a thick crust which had built up underneath the area where her lashes met the tops of her cheekbones. Like déjà vu...it reminded her of the time she got pink eye as a child-when she had woken up in the middle of the night to use the restroom only to feel like her eyes had been glued shut.

But judging by the horrendous churning of her stomach, Isabella guessed this had nothing to do with pink eye...

Using just the pads of her fingers, Isabella carefully coaxed the hardened-goo away till her eyelashes could lift themselves free, and her eyes could open once more.

But when they did...and the room's cool air made its initial contact, Isabella was hit with an agonizing sensation so great, that it stole the very breath right out from her lungs.

Her eyes defensively clamped themselves shut once more against a white, hot pain that was now searing behind her eyelids and Isabella choked on her words, "Needles...thousands of needles." That was the first thought that crossed her mind.

And the pain didn't lessen. It was as though someone had ripped the small organs right out of her sockets, soaked them in a half and half solution of acid and OC pepper-spray before shoving them back inside Isabella's skull.

"Oh, Fuck!" Biting her lip, the young woman's hands came up to cover the top half of her face. But the added pressure from the palms of her hands only added to fire that was seemingly engulfing her head from the inside out. At that point, Isabella didn't bother trying to contain the loud scream that passed from her lip-What had happened to her?

In the midst of her anguish, Isabella didn't notice the IV sticking in her arm as she rolled herself off the cot and onto a metal, grated floor. The wild movement tugged the IV's cord so hard that it sent stand crashing down over her person. Isabella dropped her hands from her face, throwing a curled fist into floor. It was then that she blindly reached for the embedded needle that had been buried in her arm-with a swift jerk of her hand, she disconnected herself from the cable and kicked the stand across the floor with her feet.

 **Who** had done this to her?

Breathing heavily, Isabella pushed herself up to her knees, and forced herself to open her eyes and blink through the afflicting pain-it was a trick she had picked up from having to be pepper sprayed a few times while in the Marine Corps.

"You are going to beat this..." her head screamed at her. "Keep breathing...and blink."

Isabella smacked an open and pained hand upon her knee as she fought hard to overcome the smoldering sensation that was still swallowing her eyes.

Gradually, with every tortuous blink that occasionally brought with it a warm droplet spilling down her cheeks, the pain turned into an numbing ache. And after an endless struggle that went on for the longest five minutes she had ever known, Isabella was starting to see through it-well, sort of.

Her vision was far from clear...in fact, her eyes couldn't seem to process anything-not even the grated metal floor boards lying directly beneath her. For what it was worth, she could distinguish colors in between the room's lighting...but other than that, her world was a messy, hodge-podge of swirling blurriness.

Just outside of the walls, Isabella's ears picked up the faint but distinctive sound of buttons being pressed. What followed afterwards was the a quick hiss of an automatic door sliding open. And then came the rapid sound of heavy footsteps as someone entered the space with Isabella.

There appeared to be a slight pause in his steps when the figure who had just walked in got a good view of the young woman kneeling on the ground. "Well, well.. Isabella Wright..." though the man speaking knew her name, she did not recognize his voice. "You came around faster than anticipated, Captain."

Isabella looked up in the direction of the unknown presence and made note of its dark detailing as best as she could.

In response, she heard the figure draw in a sharp breath before he continued moving forward, towards her. "Oh, dear...I see you're having an early reaction to the procedure." He stated out loud.

The young woman could barely make out this tall figure dressed in black who was hovering above her now. "Procedure?" she repeated, blinking frantically which sent a couple more beads escaping from her eyes. "So all of this...what I just went through...this was your doing?"

The blurry, mannish figure in black dropped to a squatting position before Isabella where he proceeded by reaching a black gloved hand out to touch the young woman right below her eyes and assessed for any damages. "Yes."

Gritting her teeth, an enraged Isabella took a unsighted swing at the what she guessed was the figure's head. But before her fist could land, the man quickly caught the woman by her wrist. "How dare you!" she raised her voice, "What did you do to my eyes?"

The man in black chuckled, "Take it easy now." He spoke, "….you're already dealing with some pretty nasty side effects..." he casually pointed out.

"What..." Isabella repeated her question as she took her wrist back, "...did you do? And who are you?" she demanded.

"A Doctor," He offhandedly replied, "…as for the other part, I'll explain later once you've had time to properly recover." As though proving his title, he then reached for Isabella again, allowing his hand to trail across her throat where her skin was appearing to be flushed with heated color.

Isabella stiffened and smacked the advancing hand away, "Don't touch me!" she threatened, even though she couldn't really see him, her eyes attempted to glare at him nonetheless.

The Doctor chuckled, "My, my, my...a tad bit tense, are we?" He stated with amusement, "I was merely reading your pulse."

"I assure you...Doctor, my pulse is fine...completely functional." She boldly threw back.

Though she couldn't see it, the Doctor cocked his head to the side as he studied Isabella's face,

"It will do you no good arguing, Captain...my patient, my rules." He smartly threw back as he lifted his hand and found the pulsating spot on the side of her neck. "You may not like it, but you are very much my patient now." He held his two fingers there against for a long moment before another chuckle escaped him.

"Are you nervous Captain?" he mockingly stated as he drew his hand away. "Your heart rate is exceptionally high at the moment...granted, that could be from the mild fever you're currently working through..."

She was feverish?

Isabella raised her own hand up and covered the place where his hand had just been, feeling the fast fluttering of her heart. "Nervous isn't how I would put it." she grumbled back. "It's just been an...exciting day, that's all."

"Mmm…" the Doctor murmured to himself as he considered her answer. "Indeed." The Doctor then reached into his lab coat's pocket and pulled out a small white bottle. "Here..." he added as he unscrewed the bottle's top and poured about three milliliters worth of a dark green solution into its cap. "You need this."

Isabella could make out the image of him extending something indistinguishable out for her to take. The woman eyed the offering disdainfully before she reached a hand out and firmly pushed it back at him. "No…" she determinedly murmured.

The Doctor chuckled-it was a low, chilling sound that made Isabella's flesh instantly crawl, "Come now, there's no need to be difficult." He began, "…It's just medicine... made specifically for your condition."

Isabella swallowed and stubbornly shook her head as she turned her body away from him. "I want nothing to do with you..."

"Too late for that, Isabella." The Doctor remarked as he stuck the solution right under her nose. "Drink it." he ordered.

Out of the corner of her eye, Isabella silently glanced up in his direction but refused to budge.

Sighing with his growing irritation, the Doctor sat back on his heels, "You obviously don't understand your current situation, Captain."

"At the moment, I really couldn't care, Doctor..." she assured.

"If you ever want to restore your vision, you need to drink what I'm offering."

At that, Isabella's head turned directly towards him-a look of immediate concern was etched onto her features. "What do you mean if?"

"To put it simply? Your eyes are bleeding out, Isabella." the Doctor stated, watching the color instantly drain from the young woman's face- it made the crimson streaks that already trailed down her cheeks from earlier stand out even more. "You may not have noticed it, but they are-slowly and surely. But don't fret too much, my dear...that part was to be expected after the procedure."

"What...the hell..." Isabella's demanding voice shook with emotion, "..did you do?!"

"I remade your eyes." The Doctor answered simply.

"Remade them?" The young woman frowned disbelievingly, scoffing lightly, "Are you sure about that? In the past, I only needed reading glasses occasionally from being near-sighted...but right now, it's like someone crossbred a kaleidoscope with a pair of drunk glasses... "

The man gave a curt laugh. "All in good time, Captain..." the Doctor guaranteed, "Like any medical procedure, it requires a period of recovery and adjustment-something you haven't allotted yourself yet." he further explained. "The solution I had injected into the maculae of your eyes was one of my own special design...and this right here?" The Doctor carried on as he once again, held the bottle cap of green fluid out for Isabella to take. "Think of it as an anti-rejection medication. After a few days of treatment, you eyes will be good as new... _better_ than new actually."

"God damn..." the young woman breathed out as she struggled contemplating the Doctor's words-this was an immense amount of information to take it-the heavy pounding that was continuing behind her temples was proof of that. A soft groan left Isabella's mouth as her hands came up to massage the aching points in an attempt to clear her head and once more gather her focus.

"You're still in pain..." The Doctor knowingly pointed out, "...Take the medicine. You have my word, Captain...you'll feel much better when you do."

Isabella took a moment of silence to weight her options over. "Just for argument's sake..." the young woman retorted through clenched teeth, "What should happen if I don't take this 'special medication'?"

"Undoubtedly, the cells that make up your eyes will collapse."

Isabella blinked slowly, letting the Doctor's words process, "So you're telling me...I either take your medicine...or..."

"Your vision-granting organs will eventually liquefy and come pouring out of that pretty little head of yours."

The young woman's stomach flopped, disagreeing with the Doctor's graphic visual. "Oh god..." she brought a hand up to the base of her throat which suddenly felt like it would close, "You know, I think I'm going to be sick..."

Abruptly, the Doctor's medicine was pressed up against Isabella's mouth. "Just drink."

Squeezing her eyes closed, Isabella's shaking lips parted and the thick, green medicinal solution was poured into her mouth.

The taste was unlike anything Isabella had ever tasted before-bittersweet like black licorice and metallic, with the consistency of cough syrup. The solution burned against her tongue, forcing Isabella to toss it back like it was a shot of whiskey.

* * *

"Now was that so hard?" The Doctor spoke, breaking the fifteen minutes of silence that had settled inside the cell room as he finished up placing fresh new bandages over Isabella's eyes. Back on her cot, the quiet young woman had her back straight against the chilly wall behind her. "It would be wise for you to not use your vision for the next couple days or so..." he added while quickly wrapping gauze around the punctured spot on her arm where Isabella had dislodged the IV needle.

"But I will be able to use my eyes again, right?" she replied rather forcefully. Things were definitely bleak for her at the present moment-with her sight incapacitated, Isabella was left with no other choice but to comply with whatever the Doctor told her to do.

"Oh yes...you'll be able to use them alright." the Doctor promised with a low chuckle. "They shall be your greatest asset yet, Captain."

Something in the way his last comment came out made Isabella stop and think long and hard. "But for who's advantage, I wonder?" she returned coolly, "Mine...or yours?"

Finished with his handiwork, the Doctor slowly rose from his kneeling position beside Isabella's cot "I'll have some food sent to your cell." he spoke, bypassing the passive inquiry completely. "You'll be due for your next dosage in approximately eight hours. In the meantime, I suggest you get comfortable, Captain..." Turning away, the Doctor clasped his hands behind his back and started across the room to the cell's only exit point, "...You will need your full strength for what is coming next." he added as he quickly typed in the door's access code with nimble fingers.

It slid open with a hiss and the Doctor moved forward. "Oh...and one more thing..." he noted out loud without looking back, "The bathroom is off to your left hand side."

The door sealed shut a moment later and then an instant stillness settled around the room.

With her eyes closed and bandaged tight, Isabella dropped her head back till it rested along the wall behind her back. "Shit..." Bleak indeed...looks like she was going to be stuck here for quite some time.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7:

True to his word, the Doctor made sure that Isabella received her treatment when it was due, and he also had sporadic nourishment sent into cell. It was never anything fancy-a bowl of bland oatmeal , a cheese sandwich, some tasteless broth- but food was food, so the woman consumed what was she given without question...

And the time crept by-the seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes became hours.

Isabella didn't know how many had passed inside her cell. No one would tell her the time. And it didn't help that the medication that the Doctor had pushed on her forced her into heavy states of fatigue that left her resting more than anything else.

But as it would happen, all that time in complete isolation seemed to pay off.

Something had changed...

Isabella could feel it the second she found herself waking up from a brief slumber-she felt different, her head light and clear with a newfound liveliness. Could this be what she was waiting for?

Sitting up from her place on the cot, the young woman held her breath as her hands came up and carefully removed the bandages from over her closed eyes. Taking it as a promising sign when she felt no amount of pain or discomfort from trailing her fingertips across her eyelids, Isabella sucked in a heavy breath and warily opened her blue-green orbs.

She instantly cringed-The lighting in the room was blinding for the first few moments-everything was white.

So Isabella closed her sensitive eyes for readjustment and tried again. This time, her blinking eyes welcomed the brightness and in return, they showed her colors and defined shapes.

Isabella's stomach flipped hard with anticipation, driving the young woman to her feet as her head slowly started to look about. The whirling blurriness was gone...her eyesight had come back.

She could see everything now and with an astounding clarity-All the discolored cracks and water stains along the grey walls, all the detailed grooves embedded in the grated floor of metal...

Sure, the cell room itself wasn't exactly the most charming sight to behold...but being able to visually perceive sights again was nonetheless, the most beautiful thing to have happened since Isabella's abduction.

It was like how her father use to always say...

"True strength comes from knowing how to observe.." she murmured out loud with a tiny thoughtful smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. And how true that saying was. She had sorely missed having her eyes to rely on-without them, Isabella had been compelled to be biddable for her captors.

As her red-blonde head continued turning about, her newly restored eyes then locked onto the room's most vital detail-the single, code-operated door that lied across on the other side of the cell room.

At once, the woman's smile was gone.

Like getting directly struck with lightning, she was reminded in that instant all the reasons why her moment of happiness should take an immediate back seat.

She should be livid-and instantaneously, Isabella was.

"That Doctor..." she muttered aloud as her eyes scanned the rooms perimeter before she pivoted on her heel and headed straight for the bathroom. He was to blame for all of this...

The tiny room was dark and lacked an official light source, but that didn't stop Isabella from taking a moment to use the sink to wet her fingers with cold water so she could comb through her knotted curtain of red-gold hair. It had been hanging freely down her back, untouched ever since she had first woken up in this god-forsaken place.

As she worked, the stoic young woman found herself watching her shadowed reflection in the mirror. It seemed-the longer she stared- that even her night vision had immensely improved . Despite being in the dim lighting, she could see every plain detail, right down to the faint coating of freckles that covered the bridge of her nose.

However, in that same darkness, Isabella took notice of something else. At first, she thought it was just a trick of the inconsistent lighting...but as she leaned closer to the mirror to check, reaching a troubled hand up to touch below her right eye, she came to discover that it was no trick. What she was seeing was real.

An iridescent silver ring bordered the outer edge of her pupils-and from it came a subtle, shimmering glow-turning her head back and forth, she watched her eye change its color based off the amount of light hitting the side of her face.

"Oh my god..." Isabella breathed a loud as lowered her hand from her face. Her eyes could glow in the dark now? "That shouldn't be happening..." she added, growing more aggravated by the second.

What was it that the Doctor had told her? He had 'remade' her eyes? Of course, she still didn't know what exactly that meant...but as sure as hell, she was going to find out. It was about time someone started explaining some things...

Isabella gave up trying to comb through her hair and instead, hurriedly weaved her hair back into a tight braid. Then after leaving the bathroom a moment later, she fetched a strip of gauze that she had discarded beside the cot and used the material to tie off the braid's end. "Right..."

Driven by her impulse for answers, Isabella stormed up to the cell door and with a raised fist, she pounded down hard on its metal surface.

"Hey!" the young woman shouted angrily, "Get me the Doctor!" she ordered, "Now!"

When she got no immediate response, Isabella intensified her efforts, going as far as actually kicking the door with the heel of her foot. "I can do this all day, guys..." she persistently hollered "I will not be ignored here!"

Five minutes of this went by before a relentless Isabella heard someone finally approach the cell door from the outside and hurriedly punch in the door's access code.

Taking a single step back, Isabella watched as a moment later, the door slid open and revealed the towering build of an armed guard standing in the door's entrance.

"Quit your yapping, girly..." He spat.

Isabella's eyes narrowed, and she felt their centers oddly twitch. She didn't have the time nor the patience to be dealing with this. "You..." she coolly spoke, lowering her tone, "...are not the Doctor."

The man scoffed, lifting his arms up from his side while he looked himself over, "Do I look like a Doctor to yo..."

Before the guard could finish his sentence, Isabella raised a leg and executed a direct front kick to the man's abdomen.

The unexpected force knocked him stumbling back through the door, till his back hit the wall of the passageway behind him.

Isabella boldly moved forward and raised her voice once more, "Where is the Doctor?!" she demanded, advancing through the cell's exit and into the hallway herself. She took a moment to look around-noting the straight, narrow design of the passageway that stretched in both directions and felt the strange twitch of her eyes for a second time.

Something like a shadow moved out of the corner of her peripherals-Isabella turned towards the movement and watched as the guard, who had recovered from her hit, came at her and took a mad swing at her head.

She blinked once-and in that split second, her arm came up above her head and high blocked the oncoming attack-a defense mechanism she had learned from studying martial arts over the years. "Wrong answer, _buddy_." she muttered as she then retaliated with an uppercut punch that landed on the underside of the man's jaw which sent him sprawling to the floor a good foot away.

"Don't make me ask you again..." the young woman gravely warned as she brought her fisted hands back down to her side. As though proving her words, Isabella took a step towards the guard's fallen form.

While still lying on his back, the man started to laugh before he slowly sat up and brought a hand up to wipe the faint trail of blood coming from his split lip.

"I wouldn't act so tough, if I were you, girly..." He said, looking up at her from his place on the floor, "…it's going to get you into trouble."

"Between you and me, I'm already in trouble." So caught up in the rush of the moment, Isabella failed to take notice of the second presence rapidly approaching from the rear. "Therefore, I don't really have much to lose."

Before Isabella could make another move against the guard, an iron grip caught her arm from behind and had it twisted rather painfully up her back. Isabella gritted her teeth softly, her eyes briefly closing against the uncomfortable force restraining her.

"I thought I told you not to be difficult..." a familiar voice spoke into her ear from behind. Isabella sucked in a breath as she opened her eyes. Then, she angled her body just enough to spare a glaring glance over her shoulder and found an arrogantly smirking Storm Shadow looking right back.

"What can I say?" Isabella returned mirthlessly, "I've always believed that a little rebellion is good for the health..." she finished with an irritable sigh. "Why are you here? Can't you see your interrupting something?" When the young woman looked back over at where the guard had been sitting on the floor, she discovered that the man had quietly risen to his feet, dismissed himself and was already disappearing down the hall. "God damn it..."

Storm Shadow gave a cool laugh, "No need for that. Consider your wish for seeing the Doctor granted." he answered. "I'm here to bring you to the lab."

At once, Isabella's perplexed eyes were back on the white ninja. "What for?"

The white-suited ninja shrugged a muscled shoulder, "I don't ask questions..." he replied. "But he did mention something about 'finishing the procedure'." He added.

"Finishing?" A heavy frown formed on her face, and Isabella opened her mouth to ask what on earth he meant by that but was suddenly forced around and then shoved forward. "Hey!" she protested, stumbling on the first step.

"Hurry up and move. I'm on a tight schedule..." Storm Shadow then released the young woman from his unbreakable grip and allowed her the ability to walk freely-even so, he stayed right on her heels as they walked down the passageway.

The walk to the lab wasn't a long one but they did have to cover quite a bit of distance. To the best of her ability, Isabella mentally began to chart all the routes she could see as they moved along-the task wasn't easy-the passageways appeared to be endless and each one was different.

Soon, they were passing through two glass doors which slid open wide as they approached. Isabella then found herself walking into a fairly large room filled with a variety of strange equipment and machinery- both scientifically and medically based. Before she could get a good look at everything, Storm Shadow directed her over to a long, white chair that was posted in the room's center. Interesting enough, it resembled what one would find in a dentist office.

"Sit." The white ninja ordered as he placed a hand on her shoulder and directed the young woman into the chair.

Isabella however immediately resisted. "I'd rather not..."

Storm Shadow rolled his dark eyes, then before she could blink, he hooked a single arm around her waist, lifted her off the ground and threw her into the seat. Since he easily towered over her, she was no match against his strength.

Overpowered, Isabella fell back into the chair with a quiet grunt before she shifted herself about in her new seat. "Alright, fuck...why am I here?" she firmly demanded.

"You'll find out for yourself." Storm Shadow replied as though bored with the current situation while he then straightened his suit's white jacket, all the while keeping his dark eyes intensely set upon her face.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just inform me right now?" she further questioned. "I believe I've been more than patient."

"Ah, but that would ruin the surprise he has in store for you." The white ninja returned.

Isabella frowned with a huffed sigh, sitting back into the chair. "You know...I don't think I can take any more surprises from you guys…." She grumbled under her breath as her head started once more to look around the room.

Only a few silent minutes passed between the two before the lab door opened and three men moved inside the room. Using just the corners of her eyes, she observed the incoming trio- the first was the well-dressed man Isabella remembered from the jet, known as James McCullen. The second one however was a complete stranger-he was tall with incredibly short hair and seemed to be carelessly preoccupied with the whistling of an old tune Isabella knew from childhood.

But the third man held Isabella's attention the most. Dressed in black from head to toe, with black hair and dark eyes, the man moved into the room with a knowing stride-his black-gloved hands were clasped thoughtfully behind his back as he slowly circled around Isabella's seated form. Her strawberry blonde head instinctively began tracking and following his movement...

"Congratulations on making a full recovery, Captain Wright..." he greeted, fixing his dark eyes on the young woman in the chair as he stopped directly in her line of sight.

Hearing his voice, the woman became enraged-her body grew stiff and straightened in her seat. Though he spoke through what Isabella could only guess was a respiratory mask of some sort, she recognized his voice immediately.

"Doctor..."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8:

"Well... " McCullen stated as he moved up to the Doctor's side and thoroughly sized Isabella up with chilly, blue eyes, "...she does appear to be fairing well...as you said. "

The Doctor half turned towards the finely dressed man, "Of course..." he assured. "As predicted and confirmed by our surveillance, she's in excellent condition and..." the masked man chuckled, "...good spirits."

James McCullen scoffed quietly remembering the images caught on camera , "That bastard got what he deserved, letting himself get so openly knocked around by such a wee woman..."

Did he just say wee woman? Isabella had to bite her tongue hard at that comment-though she was quite familiar with being underestimated as a solider simply because she was a female, she never once accepted it. Besides...she wasn't even short-standing just under 5'5, Isabella was considered average height for a woman.

"I am confident that she's just the sort of foothold we've been needing ." The Doctor added.

Taking his eyes off the silent woman in the chair, McCullen glanced back over at the Doctor, "I hope so. We've gone through quite a bit of trouble already to get her here in the first place." he reminded.

"And just..." the third man suddenly spoke up, joining in on the dialogue while standing over at a small table, fiddling around with a pair of medical pliers. He paused what he was doing long enough and gave Isabella a steady look-over. "... who exactly is she?"

"Zartan," The Doctor began the informal introductions as he moved away from the chair's side to go situate himself behind what appeared to be a large computer station, "Meet our soon-to-be newest _recruit_ to the Cobra's forces, Isabella Wright."

Isabella drew a sharp intake of breath, her eyes shifting away from the other men in the room before they followed after and landed back up at Doctor's masked face. She didn't like the way he had announced the word 'recruit'. "Excuse me?"

When the Doctor silently raised his head and met her gaze head on from behind the monitor he was viewing, Isabella saw something gleam behind his dark eyes and her hands without delay clenched tightly into fists down at her side-so that was her purpose here...

The man named Zartan raised a high eyebrow at the information before he dropped the pliers back onto the table with a clang as turned his full attention onto the young woman in the room. "Another recruit huh?" he repeated, moving away from the table to stand beside Isabella's seated form. "I wonder how we found such a pretty flower..." he stated a loud as he reached a hand out and trailed the back of his fingertips down her cheek.

The young woman glowered heavily at the unwanted physical contact, her eyes narrowing before her hands shot up from her side and latched onto Zartan's outstretched arm. Without so much as blinking, she used his heavier build to act as an anchor all the while curling her legs in and twisting her body sideways in a practiced fashion before powerfully thrusting the heels of her feet square center into his chest.

Unprepared, Zartan grunted loudly as the wind left his body-he stumbled back a ways before crashing into a small mobile table a few feet away and toppled to the floor.

Storm Shadow wordlessly smirked from his post over by the door, the unsurprised Doctor chuckled and McCullen looked rather amused...

"It probably isn't wise to provoke her, Zartan." McCullen lightly pointed out while the man furiously pushed himself off the ground and got back to his feet.

Pointing a finger at Isabella, Zartan spat venomously, "Someone ought to restrain that bitch!"

Isabella straightened in her chair, "Care to be the one to try, Tarzan? "she returned with a bold challenge, "Please say yes and make my day..."

"It's **Zar** -tan!" he cogently hissed back, taking a menacing step back towards the young woman only to stop when he heard Storm Shadow chuckling to himself on the other side of the room.

"What you think this is funny ninja boy?" he demanded sharply as his head turned over his shoulder to glare at the white ninja.

Storm Shadow ceased his soft laughter and shrugged, "I could never tire of seeing you get your ass handed to you, Zartan." He answered, "…. having it done by a woman makes the moment even that more sweet." He finished honestly.

While the two men continued their noiseless stare down, McCullen walked around the chair and headed over to where the Doctor stood behind his computer station. "I see she still needs to be reigned in with obedience..."

"Yes..." The Doctor agreed as he began typing something into the computer's monitor. "Because of its sensitivity, my new procedure had to be divided into two separate parts-with the first being the remaking of her visual system...Storm Shadow...if you will..." he added without looking up from his work station. Without making a noise, Storm Shadow moved across the floor.

"Wait...what?" Isabella barely had enough to spare an over-the shoulder glance at the doctor before the white-clad ninja's two strong hands grabbed her from behind and forced her to lay flat back in the chair. "Hey!" Meanwhile, Zartan approached her from the front, firmly securing both arms out by her side before he clasped the limbs down by a built in metal cuff. "What the hell?!" she demanded as she thrashed against her restraints but to no prevail.

When she was tied down, Zartan hovered about and admired his effort with a satisfied smirk playing across his face-he then linked both of his hands together and cracked his knuckles loudly. "Not so tough now, are you sweetheart?" he asked mockingly.

Isabella angrily jerked against the cuffs in response. "Say that to my face!" she threw back in restored anger, "See what happens..." she threatened.

Dumbfounded, Zartan laughed and shook his head. "Quite the little spitfire, aren't you?" he asked as he leaned in close.

Breathing heavily, Isabella fearlessly stared up at him.

"It's a pity I won't be able to break you myself." He stated, being only a handful of inches away from the young woman's face.

In a flash, Isabella snapped her head forward, allowing her forehead to painfully collide with Zartan's . His head dropped back slightly at the attack as he hissed out in pain- raising a hand up to cover the soon to be bruised spot on his forehead. After taking a moment to recover, Zartan brought an open hand down and cuffed Isabella roughly across the face. She didn't utter a sound when the left side of her face was dealt the angry blow. Her eyes closed only for a few seconds before they reopened and looked back up at Zartan unwaveringly.

"That's enough, Zartan..." McCullen ordered firmly, drawing their attention back over to where he and the Doctor stood. "Continue, Doctor."

"As you can see from the monitor..." The Doctor carried on as he pulled up a set of colorful charts on the screen before them, "I had a new solution of Nanomites injected into the maculae of her eyes-Looking here..." Using his black gloved fingers, the Doctor carefully mapped out the anatomical regions that made up the tiny organs for McCullen's understanding, "...you see its the oval yellowish area surrounding the fovea..which is here in the back of eye...near the center of the retina which is all of this."

From her position in the chair, Isabella held her breath as she listened in on the back and forth dialogues between the two men. Nanomites? Surely she heard him incorrectly.

McCullen's brows rose before he spared the Doctor a sideway's glance as though the masked man was speaking gibberish, "Fine and dandy, Doctor...but what's its purpose?"

"To put it simply, James... It is the region of keenest vision."

James McCullen nodded his head once, as he processed the information. "Alright...go on..."

The Doctor hit a button on the key pad which pulled up a side by side comparison of two human eyes. "Now if you'll look here, on the left, you'll see Captain Wright's eye before the procedure...and on the right, this is her eye presently."

"I see..." McCullen took a moment to evaluate the two images of the blue-green eyes and noted that there wasn't a horrendous difference, save for one small detail. "...and that silver ring circling the eye's center...that's suppose to be what exactly?"

The Doctor chuckled, "I call it success...but you can call it progress."

James McCullen gave an exasperated sigh, "Please explain yourself, Doctor."

"The macula is made up of millions of light-sensing cells that provide sharp, detailed central vision. It is the most sensitive part of the retina-now, what a normal retina does is it turns light into electrical signals which are then sent to the brain through the optic nerve. The brain in return, then translates the electrical signals into the images we see."

"So cutting to the chase, what does that mean for Captain's Wright's eyes presently?" McCullen asked as his arms came up and crossed themselves over his chest.

"Ah-ha..." stepping away from the computer's monitor, the Doctor moved over to where the young woman sat, restrained in the chair in the room's center. "This particular solution of Nanomites I had programmed for one main purpose-to enhance where keenest vision already takes place-in short, her visual capabilities have now been increased by over 300%."  
"Over 300%, Doctor?" McCullen inquired, his brows furrowing with his perplexity.

"The human eyes are powerful little things, James-already capable of producing clear imagery in all manners of environment. With the augmentations by the presence of the Nanomites, while still working alongside the brain, images can now be captured in pristine detail, be further stored and applied from a lasting memory...much like a central processing unit, if you will."

"So..." McCullen fell silent for a moment, "Let me see if I got this straight, Doctor...are you saying that turned this woman's eyes into..." the man's tongue came out and swept across his lower lip in thought, "...a computer?"

The Doctor glanced McCullen's way before he nodded his dark head, chuckling quietly. "That's one way to see it...pun not intended...but its more than that." Reaching a black gloved hand, the Doctor held up a single finger before Isabella's eyes who in return, scowled heavily. "Captain...I want you to watch my finger closely..."

"Looks like we both want something then..." the young woman returned coolly, "...you want me to watch your finger...and I want to hit you with a bus."

"Focus." The Doctor firmly commanded.

Isabella huffed a sigh before fixing her gaze hard at the lone finger he had displayed in front of her eyes. "Ok, I'm focusi..." The young woman's breath became lodged in her throat as she felt the center of her eyes shift and watched the single digit close in. At once, she squeezed her turquoise orbs shut and turned her head as though avoiding the Doctor's approaching touch.

But after a couple long seconds, nothing happened and when Isabella's eyes reopened, and turned back towards him, she found the Doctor unmoving and beaming. "Wait...Did...did you move at all?"

"I did not..." the Doctor answered with an unseen smile behind his respiratory mask,

"What just happened then?" she questioned.

"Your eyes focused, Captain." He explained with icy confidence. "Nothing more."

"Ok, in what sense is that a normal reaction? " Isabella demanded.

"Oh, It's not..." the Doctor answered, "But it's your reaction now." He carried on as he lowered his finger and moved back to his computer where James McCullen stood in silent observations. "Think of it like a computerized camera..." he carried on, "The maculae is the control center, the retina the power source...and the rimming of Nanomites around the pupils are the lense-options that can zoom and adjust their focus upon a simple command..."

Isabella had started to follow the Doctor's movements back across the room, only to wince, turn away and shake her head when she felt the odd sensation repeat itself while her eyes, as the doctor had stated a moment ago, zoomed in on the sight of the two men. "Oh. fuck...that's weird..."

Seeing her reaction, the Doctor chuckled, "Which reminds me... that's the trigger-word I had programmed into the Nanomites. Anytime you hear or think the word, you'll activate your zoom. I figured it'd make controlling things just a tad bit easier."

After taking a second to recompose herself, the young woman's head turned back towards the Doctor, "I have a trigger word, now?" she repeated, sounding mildly outraged. "And what the hell do you mean by Nanomites? I read about those things shortly before receiving your...invitation. And the blueprints didn't say anything about being okayed for surgical procedures."

"Well your procedure in particular was a new experiment, Captain..." The Doctor explained. "And it's also unfinished for that matter...I had to make sure the new solution of Nanomites would first take successfully in the eyes before implementing the others... "

"Others?" Isabella felt her stomach flip with uncertainty.

The Doctor then took a moment to glance over at Storm Shadow and Zartan who were still hanging quietly about. "You gents can go by the way, your assistance is no longer needed at the moment."

Storm Shadow nodded his head wordlessly, letting his dark eyes land on Isabella's face once more while Zartan looked over at the Doctor and huffed irritably... grumbling something under his breath before finally muttering a curt 'fine' while turning away and storming out of the lab with the white clad ninja following soundlessly behind.

Taking his place back at his computer, the Doctor pulled up a chair and took a seat, "So James..." he spoke up, addressing the one remaining man still in the room. "...what do you think of your new infiltrating foothold? " he asked curiously, "...did I not deliver?"

James McCullen gave a half-smirk, "You've done well, Doctor...I'll be looking forward to seeing her in action once she learns her...obedience."

"Indeed...and she will learn. I will guarantee that."

" Right..." James McCullen gave a quick nod of his head, "I'll leave you to your work then Doctor. I must be off though. The case is being transported out of the NATO's facility even as we speak." McCullen explained, "The Baroness is awaiting orders and a team of Vipers must be at the ready. I'll have them prepared while you….continue doing your thing, Doctor." With that said, McCullen turned and swiftly left the room, disappeared from sight.

"Work?" Isabella repeated with distaste as she squirmed against the metal bindings holding her down, "What am I to you? A science project?" she demanded irritably.

The Doctor chuckled and spared a glance over to Isabella's immobile form.

"I would prefer to think of you as an investment, actually." he answered frankly.

Isabella turned her head sharply over her left shoulder so that she could look at the Doctor's masked face from his chair behind the computer screen. "What exactly are your plans for me?" she cautiously asked.

The Doctor who was now looking down on what looked to be some kind of control pad in his hands pressed a few buttons and looked up at the ceiling above Isabella's head. The young woman followed his movement and caught sight of a rather high-tech piece of machinery slowly being lowered towards her person.

Isabella grew nervous once more as the two main parts of the machine came down and stopped just a foot and a half or so from her head. "Ok...What the hell is this for?" she sharply demanded as she found herself unable to tear her gaze away from the strange piece of equipment.

"This is why you were brought here, Isabella." The Doctor answered as he began to slowly circle around the chair, "You will no longer be a mere soldier...I'm going to make you into a Viper."

"A what?" Isabella exclaimed in confusion.

"A permanent member of the Cobra's forces." He explained.

"Umm...I'm quite happy being a Marine, thank you very much." She declared with unwavering certainty as her hands twisted about in their cuffs as though testing their strength.

"But you are better than just a simple Marine, Isabella. You possess such high potential, well beyond your years. It's a wonder to me...why the Joes never picked you up." He stated.

"Who?"

The Doctor brushed the question off, "We'll get to them later….but for now, let's finish this." He once again began typing things onto the keyboard.

The machine started up again and slowly started inching its way towards Isabella's head. The young woman then watched in horror as sets of long and extremely sharp looking needles extended out of the machine, and began inching towards her head. "You see, Isabella...with this machine, I will now proceed by injecting into your cranium a far more potent solution of Nanomites."

"Why?" the woman asked with a growing panic as she instinctively tried shrinking away from the advancing needles.

"Once they are inside your system, you will be under my complete control." He casually answered.

"Control? What like a mindless robot?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "That can't be possible!" she jerked hard against the cuffs once more.

"With Nanomite technology, anything's possible." The Doctor answered excitedly, "Since it was I who programmed them, I can make them do anything I want. Including but not limited to, controlling a living being."

"Well fuck you and your Nanomites...I refuse to be your guys' puppet!" she fiercely declared as she started struggling again.

The Doctor chuckled, "I'm afraid my dear, you don't have a choice."

"On my life, Doctor...I won't let you do this to me..."

"Oh really now? Watch me Isabella Wright...let's see you try and stop me."

After hitting the final controls, the machine moved in. And Isabella froze.

As the needles were just about to pierce into her skull, the young woman sealed her eyes shut and readied herself for the medley of pain that was surely to come.


End file.
